audio by year 2007

What's in a name? Everything! We build a lot of walls around our understandings of Christianity, but Jesus told us that if we believe in him, or as the Apostles put it, "in the name of Jesus," we will be saved. Amen! Powerful, powerful truth.

So, I expect that you'll disagree with us.... we both disagreed with this not very long ago....

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Do churches pass over the people God has planted in our congregations that could or should be ministering because they don't have a Bible College degree? Are we hiring people who have a Bible College degree who aren't called to be our ministers while we overlook gifted, qualified people who are already established to minister to our churches and communities?

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Disagreeing with someone you love over something that's important to you is the hardest thing. It's often the thing that causes friction in families and churches. If we, as Christians, can learn how to disagree in love, we can learn from those disagreements. We need to learn that there's a big, important difference between 'unity' and 'uniformity.' We are called to unity -- not uniformity. That means we are going to disagree, and that's a good thing!

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"Dear Lord, bless this food.... and ... uh ... thanks for the ... uh ... great life .... and the kids ... and the wife .... .... and ... uh .... bless the .... uh ... those who are traveling ... and .... uh .... " (*pssst! the food's getting cold!*) " .... Amen!"

So, everything we have is from God, and he provides it to us in his time. What's his, what's 'ours,' and when does he provide it....

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We seem to get a lot of feedback condemning the Church or condemning the people that go to church, or condemning the reasons people go to church, or just condemning people because "those people" [blah, blah, blah].

Well, I'm tired of it! Listen up, people! "A new command I give you: Love one another. As I have loved you, so you must love one another. By this all men will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another." If you've got a problem with that.... you've got a problem

Ephesians 5:21

Submit to one another out of reverence for Christ.

1 Corinthians 16:15-18

You know that the household of Stephanas were the first converts in Achaia, and they have devoted themselves to the service of the saints. I urge you, brothers, to submit to such as these and to everyone who joins in the work, and labors at it. I was glad when Stephanas, Fortunatus and Achaicus arrived, because they have supplied what was lacking from you. For they refreshed my spirit and yours also. Such men deserve recognition.

One of our listeners (and a good friend of Jody), Brian, asked about martyrs: "When you return to the computer pontificate on "martyrs" ... specifically how to raise awareness of [them]..."

I guess we really didn't answer that question directly, but we did give you some resources. Maybe you can tell us what the Church should be doing to raise awareness about martyrs.

References:
Voice of the Martyrs (web site)

Through The Gates of Splendor (book)

The other half of Brian's message, "What are you doing about the poor?" It's so easy to get stuck on the "stewardship" issues of "is this wise," "are these people playing the system," "how do we know they really need help," "can we trust them..."? Well... we talk about it.

As always, we treasure your feedback. If you like the show, tell a friend about it! If you don't like it, tell someone you don't like! In either case, you can send us feedback at feedback@opendiscipleship.org

One of our listeners and friends wrote us asking about the Trinity, "I heard a sermon on this subject; I would like to hear a discussion by you. Some sermons even say, 'Forget the Trinity - they are all "Jesus."' So what is your take?"

This is the first "Sidecast." We're going to have another giveaway in April. Go sign up now! April Giveaway! We're going to start publishing a monthly newsletter this year. Details to follow. We're excited about new ways you can communicate with us.

Many times people don't bother to dig into the hard doctrines of Christianity. Christian theology is found in Romans and Corinthians (1 & 2), Galatians, etc.... That's the stuff that a lot of people don't want to mess with. That's where the really good stuff of Christianity gets explained.

This is a test. For those of you who "don't have time" to listen to Theology Rocks, I have created a "Speed" version. This is show #42, compressed from 11:10 to just over 5 minutes. If you risk listening to it, let me know what you think of it.... We highly recommend not operating heavy equipment, power tools, cooking or ironing while listening to this version. We take no responsibility for any physical, emotional or psychological damage caused by listening to this audio file.

Five times, I've almost skipped over this short discussion, and just made #42 out of the next. Five times I've been brought back to the fact that a disciple needs to hear this... needs to know this can happen. Sometimes, some people are going to just stop loving you. Sometimes it's going to be because you've become unlovely, and we have to face that fact, but sometimes it's because they can't accept that you're right and they're wrong. Always, it hurts.

Great men can have a great influence in our lives... sometimes without a word.... A tribute to the late Ernie Ladd

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ernie_Ladd

Sidecast #2 Show Notes:

• Two Blind Squirrels
• Jesus Geek
• The Jaded Visalian
• Valley Christian Academy, Roswell, NM
• Mere Christianity Discipleship material
• Theology Rocks CD Archives

When we say, "I do," there's more than the commitment we're making to our spouse. There's more than the commitment we make before those witnesses. When we say, "I do," we make a commitment to God. When we say, "Come into my heart," we're not just making a commitment to God, but we're also making a commitment to God to care for our brothers and sisters.

There are things in those words we will never understand, but we need to understand what we can. We need to take our commitment to the Church (fellow believers) seriously. The commitment we made to each other before God, and in His name.

Updates on what's happening at OpenDiscipleship.org:

• New site look - send comments (Click the [+] to expand the stories)
• New additions to the April Giveaway
• Newsletter announcement and request for contributions
• Invitation to the forums
• We added a donate button to the site
• CD Collections - accepting donations through PayPal
• Announcing the OpenDiscipleship.org book of the month club starting in April

Christians need fellowship. In fact, all people need fellowship, but Christians need Christian fellowship. It's an essential part of the healthy Christian Life diet. Don't forsake it. Don't fail to do it, and don't fail to do it for others.

Christians need fellowship.... But we can also give fellowship. Think about it. We can fellowship with the world, in the World without being of the World.

Is it easy? No. Is it effective in ministering to the physical, emotional and spiritual needs of lost people? Yes!

Dan enlightens us a another bit of his colorful family history.

Sidecast #4, updating you on what's going on at OpenDiscipleship.org

• April Giveaway Winner!
• Some survey stats that scare us
• "Mommy J Parsons" gets a job! (and sponsor's lunch!)
• Announcing the "Big May Giveaway" (or the seeds there of)
• Some site updates
• Dan blogs!
• Come join in the forum discussion
• Newsletter news -- invitation for community involvement

Priorities. How does the Church (and the People of the Church) set it's/their priorities? How should we deal with the priorities of those inside the Church, outside the Church and those newly grafted in lives coming into the Church? What do our priorities tell each other? What do they tell the world?

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- If you like the show, tell a friend about it!
- If you don't like it, tell someone you don't like!

New Big May Giveaway drawing items, new forum members, OpenDiscipleship.org audio drama coming in June (hopefully)... this one is really short for technical reasons.

John Wilkerson of the Jesus Geek podcast dropped us some audio feedback based on last week's show, but refocussion on children in church, and how we feel about some specific issues. The most interesting part of the question for us was, how we deal with churches that don't want to deal with children in the service.... Grab a bag of popcorn, Dan and Jody hit it on the head.

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Traditions help us know who we are, but they can also harm us. To further complicate things, traditions are part of how we're made, how groups, organizations, families and churches work. We have to understand the traditions of others, and be sensitive to them, but we also need to be aware of our own traditions and how they can endanger us.

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For the most part, when we read the parable of the "Prodigal Son," we focus on the beautiful image of the "lost/dead" son coming home, and the great party. When the "other/elder" son is referenced, usually it's as an illusion to the Jews. We would like to disagree. We think that the older son is the type of the Church. It's a funny kind of paradox. When you're on the outside, or just grafted into the family, you're the younger son. Once you're on the inside/grafted in, you immediately become the older son.

- recorded on the campus of First Christian Church in Roswell
- Dan got a job
- Big May Giveaway updates
- Best of Theology Rocks -- tell us what your favorite shows are
- We're working on a 2-CD set for a "New Disciple's Pack." We'd love your feedback on shows to include.

We got a little feedback from 'person who will remain nameless' about our use of the word "Shutup." Then we talked a little about what we tell the world about our relationship with Christ by the way we set our priorities.

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This time, the  title pretty much wraps up the description....

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We make another assault on the doctrine of tithing. This time, we actually stick to the topic, and make a little progress. We didn't reach the summit this time, but we covered some good ground. 

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If you find yourself trudging through the Christian Life out of a sense of duty or morality, without love and joy, something's wrong. It's not just a simple matter of "something might be missing," this should be a matter of alarm for you. If Christianity is rules and duty and morals and obligations for you, you may very well have missed the boat from the beginning. The Christian Life is Life More Abundant, overflowing, a joyous celebration. It might be time to check your pulse.

Dan and Jody both have kids in a private Christian school. Are we doing this to protect the children? Or to provide for the children? Or is the damage caused to society by removing the Christian influence of these children and families from a society that desperately needs a Christian witness worse than the good we imagine that we're doing? ... or what? We talk.

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